Such flat gaskets are known from DE 195 13 361 C1, for example. This publication discloses a metal cylinder head gasket for an internal combustion engine, wherein the cylinder head gasket comprises at least one cover sheet made of spring steel, which is provided with beads running around the combustion chamber holes of the cylinder head gasket. When the gasket is in supported position, these beads ensure that the force of the bolts, with which the structural parts to be sealed and the gasket are held in position relative to one another, is concentrated into a linear pressure along the arch of the beads.
It is additionally known for protection of the sealing beads to provide a cylinder head gasket with a deformation restriction means (also termed “stopper”), through which the vertically deformable beads are protected against an impermissibly large deformation. Such a deformation restriction means at the same time constitutes a partial thickening of the cylinder head gasket, through which the engine components adjoining the cylinder head gasket are prestressed in such a way that the dynamic sealing gap vibration is reduced.
Such a deformation restriction means can be produced, for example, by welding an additional ring onto one of the layers of the cylinder head gasket or by punching raised sections into one or more layers of the cylinder head gasket.
Moreover, it is known from DE 195 13 361 C1, for example, to provide a support layer of the cylinder head gasket, which is adjacent to the beaded function layer made of spring steel and which is formed from a different material with lower tensile strength and higher percentage elongation after fracture, with an edging fold running along the edge of the combustion chamber hole.